APSN | Surabaya police bans 'communist' book talk on Tan Malaka after FPI protest

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Surabaya police bans 'communist' book talk on Tan Malaka after FPI protest

Jakarta Globe - February 8, 2014

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Jakarta – Surabaya police refused to issue a permit for a book discussion on independence fighter Tan Malaka after Islamic groups, including the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), rallied in front of the venue in Surabaya on Friday.

The reading group was supposed to begin at 6:30 p.m. on Friday to discuss a book on philosopher and former exile Tan Malaka by renowned Dutch historian Harry A. Poeze. However, Poeze's publisher, Obor, posted a notice ouside the C20 library saying it had no choice but to cancel the event.

Tan Malaka was a member of Indonesia's communist party and a proponent of a syncretism between Islam and communism. He was executed by Indonesian military forces in 1949.

Indonesian news magazine Tempo reported that several dozen members of hard-line Islamist group the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) under the umbrella of United Islamic People Movement (GUIB) picketed the library in attempt to prevent the talk.

Chaidar Al Hamid, chairman of the FPI's East Java branch said his organization had recommended to police that the discussion be banned on the grounds that the reading group was in fact a communist political meeting.

"It is a meeting of members of Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) in Surabaya," he said as quoted by local news portal suarasurabaya.net, adding that communist ideology was against Islamic teaching, Pancasila and, therefore, the Constitution.

The FPI, through its twitter handle @DPP_FPI, called for Indonesians to oppose similar Marxist events. "Don't be fooled by agents of the foreigners who want this nation to acknowledge #communist!. Let's hastag: #IndonesiaWithoutCommunist," the organization tweeted on Friday.

The lead monitor of human rights organization Kontras Surabaya condemned the police decision to not allow the talk to go ahead. "The police should not be afraid of the threats from these mass organizations," Fatkhul Khoir said on Friday, as quoted by news portal Merdeka.com. "It's their job to secure the event, instead of banning it."